Montana Will Contests

A Montana will contest is a formal testacy proceeding, which MCA 72-3-302(1) defines as litigation to determine whether a decedent left a valid will. An interested person starts it by petition in the district court, a judge decides it after notice and a hearing, and MCA 72-3-122 sets the deadline, which for an informally probated will is the later of 12 months from that probate or 3 years from the death.

Three features shape a Montana contest. The grounds sit in statute, because MCA 72-3-310 names them while assigning the burden of proof. Montana forfeits gifts to someone who financially exploited the decedent, not only to a killer, under MCA 72-2-813. And the clerk of district court, not a separate registrar, handles the informal side that a contest interrupts.

A contest is litigation with a high bar. The challenger carries the burden of proving a ground the statute names, the deadlines below are strict, a penalty clause can put a gift at risk, and many contests do not succeed.

This page describes the mechanism as the Montana Code Annotated 2025 states it. It is general information and says nothing about whether a challenge fits your family's facts. A licensed Montana attorney is the person who answers that, and an early conversation leaves more of the deadline to work with. If the estate has not opened yet, the Montana probate process covers the proceeding a contest interrupts.

What a Montana Will Contest Is

MCA 72-3-302(2) lets an interested person commence a formal testacy proceeding by filing a petition in one of three shapes:

• To probate a will formally, asking the court to enter an order after notice and hearing, as described in MCA 72-3-301(1).
• To set aside an informal probate of a will, or to prevent informal probate of a will that is the subject of a pending application.
• For an order that the decedent died intestate.

Under MCA 72-3-302(3), a petition may seek formal probate of a will whether or not that will or a conflicting one has already been informally probated. Under 72-3-302(4), the proceeding may leave the appointment of a personal representative out entirely, which matters when the fight is over the document rather than over who runs the estate.

Filing changes the estate at once, through two sections:

• The clerk stops. MCA 72-3-303 says that while a formal testacy proceeding is pending, the clerk shall not act on any application for informal probate of any will of the decedent or for informal appointment of a personal representative. MCA 72-1-103(7) defines the clerk as the clerk of the district court.
• Distribution stops. Under MCA 72-3-304, a personal representative appointed earlier must refrain from making any further distribution of the estate once notice of the formal proceeding arrives, unless the petition also asks the court to confirm that earlier informal appointment. A petitioner who wants a different representative may also ask the court to restrain the sitting one and appoint a special administrator. Without that request, or if the court denies it, the sitting representative keeps every other power and duty described in Montana executor duties.

A contest is the wrong tool for a complaint about how an estate is being run. MCA 72-3-402(1) lets any interested person petition for supervised administration at any time, and under 72-3-402(2)(c) the court orders it in an ordinary case when it finds supervision necessary under the circumstances. If testacy has not been decided yet, the same subsection requires the court to adjudicate it in that proceeding, even where the request for supervision is denied.

The Deadline to Contest a Montana Will

Montana runs two clocks under one section, and the second is why a family that has just learned about an informal probate is often still in time.

Read the second row twice. Because the window runs to whichever date falls later, an informal probate opened near the three-year mark still carries a full 12 months of contest exposure. A personal representative who treats the file as closed at the three-year anniversary has read half the subsection. The same dates sit beside every other dated duty on the Montana probate timeline.

What the Late-Filing Row Does and Does Not Allow

MCA 72-3-122(1)(d) is narrower than it first looks. It lets an informal appointment or a formal testacy proceeding begin after three years only when no proceeding concerning the succession or administration happened during the three-year period. A personal representative appointed that way has no right to possess estate assets beyond what it takes to confirm title in the successors, and claims other than expenses of administration may not be presented. A late filing can settle who owns what. It does not reopen the estate to creditors.

A separate exception, MCA 72-3-122(1)(e), lets a formal testacy proceeding begin at any time after three years to establish an instrument that controls property passing from someone other than the decedent, such as property the will appoints under a power of appointment.

Reopening an Order That Already Entered

A formal testacy order is final as to all persons on every issue the court considered or might have considered about whether the decedent left a valid will and who the heirs are, subject to appeal. MCA 72-3-317 then opens two narrow doors:

• Under 72-3-317(1), the court shall entertain a petition to modify or vacate its order and probate another will if the proponents of the later-offered will were unaware of its existence at the time of the earlier proceeding, or were unaware of that proceeding and received no notice of it except by publication.
• Under 72-3-317(2), where intestacy was ordered, the determination of heirs may be reconsidered for a person who was omitted and who was unaware of the relationship, unaware of the death, or given no notice of any proceeding except by publication.

MCA 72-3-317(3) caps both with three outer limits, and the earliest governs: the entry of an order approving final distribution, or 6 months after a closing statement is filed; the date under 72-3-122 when an original proceeding to probate a will is no longer possible; or 12 months after entry of the order the petitioner wants vacated. Separately, MCA 72-3-318 lets the court modify or vacate an order in a formal testacy proceeding for good cause shown, within the time allowed for appeal.

Who Can Contest a Montana Will

Only an interested person may commence a formal testacy proceeding. MCA 72-1-103(25) defines the term for the whole probate code, and the list is broad. It includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries, and any others having a property right in or claim against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward, or protected person. It also reaches persons having priority for appointment as personal representative and other fiduciaries representing interested persons.

The definition closes with a sentence that decides more arguments than the list does: the meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time and must be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding. Standing is answered proceeding by proceeding rather than once for the whole estate.

Working from that definition, the people who most often have a stake in setting a will aside are:

• Heirs at law, the relatives who would take under Montana intestate succession if no valid will governs.
• Devisees under an earlier will, whose share was larger before the challenged document appeared.
• Devisees under the challenged will, when an earlier document treated them better.
• A person with priority for appointment, since MCA 72-3-122(1)(c) frames the contest as a proceeding to secure appointment of the person with legal priority if it succeeds.

MCA 72-1-103 was last amended by Chapter 778, Laws of 2025, so a summary of the definitions section written before that session is worth checking against the current text rather than quoted from memory.

The Grounds Montana Law Names

MCA 72-3-310 states the grounds in a single sentence while assigning who must prove what: contestants of a will have the burden of establishing lack of testamentary intent or capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, or revocation.

Lack of Testamentary Intent or Capacity

MCA 72-2-521 sets the threshold in one line: an individual 18 or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will. The section does not define sound mind, and neither does MCA 72-3-310, which names capacity as a ground. The working standard comes from Montana case law, which is the point where a Montana probate litigator earns the fee.

Testamentary intent is a separate question: whether the person meant this particular document to be a will. MCA 72-2-522(3) lets intent be established by extrinsic evidence, including, for a handwritten will, portions of the document that are not in the testator's handwriting.

Undue Influence

MCA 72-3-310 names undue influence as a ground and puts the burden on the contestant, and it stops there. The self-proving affidavit forms in MCA 72-2-524 have the testator and the witnesses swear that the testator signed under no constraint or undue influence, which gives the phrase a place in the signing ceremony without defining it.

Montana does carry a statutory definition in its contract law. MCA 28-2-407 says undue influence consists of the use of a confidence or of real or apparent authority to obtain an unfair advantage over another person, taking an unfair advantage of another person's weakness of mind, or taking a grossly oppressive and unfair advantage of another person's necessities or distress. That section sits in Title 28, which governs consent to contracts. Whether and how a court applies it to a will is a case-law question this page does not answer.

Fraud, Duress, and Mistake

These three share the same sentence of MCA 72-3-310 and, like undue influence, are named there rather than defined. Fraud arguments tend to split into deception about what the document was and deception that changed a gift. A forgery argument attacks the signature itself, and it interacts with the self-proving affidavit rule covered below, because MCA 72-3-321(1) preserves an attack based on evidence of fraud or forgery affecting the acknowledgment or affidavit.

Revocation

A revocation argument says the will is no longer operative. MCA 72-2-527(1) revokes a will, or any part of it, by a later will that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency, or by a revocatory act performed with intent to revoke, either by the testator or by another person in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction. The section counts burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will or any part of it, and it treats a burn, tear, or cancellation as a revocatory act whether or not it touched any of the words.

Two presumptions decide most competing-document cases, and each yields only to clear and convincing evidence:

• Under MCA 72-2-527(3), a later will that makes a complete disposition of the estate is presumed to replace the earlier one, so only the later will operates at death.
• Under MCA 72-2-527(4), a later will that does not make a complete disposition is presumed to supplement the earlier one, revoking it only where the two conflict.

Divorce is the other revocation trigger. MCA 72-2-814(2) says a divorce or annulment revokes any revocable disposition to the former spouse or to a relative of the former spouse, any power of appointment conferred on them, and any nomination of them as personal representative, executor, trustee, conservator, agent, or guardian. It also severs a joint tenancy with right of survivorship between the former spouses into a tenancy in common. The subsection yields to the express terms of the governing instrument, a court order, or a contract dividing the marital estate, and it does not reach a retirement system established in Title 19. MCA 72-2-814(5) revives the revoked provisions if the couple remarries or the divorce is nullified, and 72-2-814(6) says no other change of circumstances revokes a will except as this section and MCA 72-2-813 provide.

A Signing That Missed a Step

An execution challenge argues the document never met MCA 72-2-522(1): a writing, signed by the testator or in the testator's name by another individual in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction, and signed by at least two individuals who each signed within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment. MCA 72-2-522(2) validates a handwritten will with no witnesses at all when the signature and material portions are in the testator's handwriting. The page on what makes a Montana will valid walks through each route.

Two provisions blunt this argument more than families expect. MCA 72-2-525(2) says the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it, so a witness who inherits keeps the gift. And MCA 72-2-523 treats a document that missed a formality as if it had been properly executed when the proponent shows by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended it as the will, as a revocation, as an addition or alteration, or as a revival of a revoked will.

Forfeiture for Financial Exploitation or Homicide

MCA 72-2-813 is not a ground for setting a will aside, but it often travels with a contest because it strips a wrongdoer of gifts the will leaves standing. The uniform version of this rule reaches a killer. Montana's version also reaches an abuser, defined in 72-2-813(1)(a) as a person who participates in the willful and unlawful financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

The definitions carry the weight:

• Financial exploitation, under 72-2-813(1)(c), means purposely or knowingly standing in a position of trust and confidence with a vulnerable adult and obtaining, using, or attempting to obtain or use at least $1,000 of that person's money, assets, or property, in one or more acts, with intent to deprive the vulnerable adult of it or to benefit someone else. The listed forms include acting through a power of attorney, guardianship, or conservatorship to gain control by deception, intimidation, fraud, menace, or undue influence.
• Vulnerable adult, under 72-2-813(1)(f), includes a person 60 years of age or older, a person functionally, mentally, or physically unable to care for themselves, a person deemed incapacitated under MCA 72-5-316, and several other listed categories.

The consequences follow in 72-2-813(2) and (3). The abuser or killer forfeits all benefits under Title 72, Chapter 2 with respect to the estate, including an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's or child's share, a homestead allowance, exempt property, and a family allowance. Revocable gifts, powers of appointment, and fiduciary nominations to that person in a governing instrument are revoked, and a joint tenancy with right of survivorship becomes a tenancy in common.

How it is proved is set out in 72-2-813(7). A final criminal conviction is conclusive. Without one, the court, on the petition of an interested person, decides under the preponderance of the evidence standard whether the individual would be found criminally accountable, and that determination is conclusive for this section.

Who Has to Prove What

MCA 72-3-310 splits the work three ways, and it does not put everything on the challenger.

The section's last sentence gives each party the ultimate burden of persuasion on the matters where it carried the initial burden of proof.

MCA 72-3-311 adds an ordering rule. If a will is opposed by a petition to probate a later will that revokes it, the court first decides whether the later will is entitled to probate. If a will is opposed by a petition for a declaration of intestacy, the court first decides whether the will is entitled to probate.

Whether anyone has to call a witness turns on MCA 72-3-321, which governs a contested case where proper execution is at issue:

• A will that is self-proved under MCA 72-2-524 satisfies the requirements for execution without the testimony of any attesting witness, once the will and its attached acknowledgment and affidavits are filed, unless there is evidence of fraud or forgery affecting the acknowledgment or affidavit.
• A will that is witnessed but not self-proved needs the testimony of at least one attesting witness to establish proper execution, if that witness is within Montana, competent, and able to testify. Proper execution may also be shown by other evidence, including an affidavit of an attesting witness, and a signed attestation clause raises a rebuttable presumption that the events it recites occurred.

A self-proving affidavit closes the signature question and leaves every mental-state ground open.

No-Contest Clauses in Montana

MCA 72-2-537, titled "Penalty clause for contest," runs one sentence. A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings.

Three things follow from the words on the page. The clause can reach other proceedings relating to the estate, not only a direct attack on the will. The escape is probable cause, measured at the moment proceedings are instituted rather than by who wins. And the section does not define probable cause, which leaves the standard to Montana case law and to the facts a challenger can document before filing.

The stakes run one way where a clause exists. A beneficiary who files without a defensible basis can lose a gift that was otherwise safe.

Where the Case Runs and What Happens First

Montana has no separate probate court. MCA 72-1-103(9) defines the court as the district court in this state having jurisdiction in matters relating to the affairs of decedents, and MCA 72-1-202 gives that court jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to estates of decedents, including construction of wills and determination of heirs. Montana's 56 counties each have a clerk of district court, and Montana probate courts by county lists them.

Venue under MCA 72-3-112(1) is the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, or, for a decedent not domiciled in Montana, any county where the decedent's property was located at death. Later proceedings stay where the first one happened unless the file is transferred under MCA 72-1-203 or 72-3-112(3).

MCA 72-1-207 applies the rules of civil procedure, including the rules on vacating orders and on appeal, to formal proceedings under the probate code unless the code says otherwise.

Filing and Notice

MCA 72-3-301(1) tells a petition for formal probate what to contain: a request for an order as to testacy in relation to a particular instrument and determining the heirs, the statements an informal application would carry, and a statement of whether the original will is in the court's possession or accompanies the petition. If neither the original nor an authenticated copy from another jurisdiction is available, the petition must state the contents of the will and say that it is lost, destroyed, or otherwise unavailable. That is the route for a lost-will case.

The court or clerk then fixes a time and place of hearing under MCA 72-3-305(1). The petitioner gives notice to the surviving spouse, children, and other heirs; to the devisees and executors named in any will probated or offered for probate in the county or known to have been offered elsewhere; to any personal representative whose appointment has not ended; and to anyone who filed a demand for notice under MCA 72-3-106. Under 72-3-305(3), the petitioner also gives notice by publication to unknown persons and to known persons whose addresses are unknown.

MCA 72-1-301 sets the method. Notice is mailed at least 14 days before the hearing by certified or ordinary first-class mail, or delivered personally at least 14 days before. Where an address or identity cannot be found with reasonable diligence, the notice runs in a weekly paper once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, with at least 10 days from the first to the last publication. The court may order a different method or time for good cause, and proof of notice must be filed on or before the hearing.

A person who expects a fight can get on the notice list early. MCA 72-3-106 lets anyone with a financial or property interest in the estate file a demand for notice at any time after the death, and after that filing, an order or filing to which the demand relates may not be made or accepted without notice to the demandant.

Anyone who opposes the will has to say so on the record. MCA 72-3-308 requires any party to a formal proceeding who opposes probate of a will, for any reason, to state the objections in the pleadings.

The Right to a Jury

MCA 72-1-208(1) gives a party who duly demands one the right to a trial by jury in a formal testacy proceeding, and in any proceeding where a controverted question of fact arises on which a party has a constitutional right to a jury. Where no such right exists, or it is waived, 72-1-208(2) lets the court call a jury in its discretion, and that verdict is advisory only. Appeals run under MCA 72-1-209, which applies the statutes and rules that govern appeals to the Montana Supreme Court.

What Happens If the Contest Succeeds

Once the notice period has run, on proof of notice and after any needed hearing, MCA 72-3-313(1) has the court find that the testator is dead, that venue is proper, and that the proceeding began within the MCA 72-3-122 limit. It then determines domicile at death, the heirs, and the state of testacy, and any will found valid and unrevoked is formally probated. Termination of an earlier informal appointment follows MCA 72-3-523.

If the challenged will falls, the estate passes under an earlier valid will if one exists and otherwise under Montana intestate succession. A surviving spouse's allowances and elective share sit outside the fight over the will's terms, and Montana surviving spouse rights covers them. A contest also stretches the calendar for everyone waiting on a distribution.

Before any of that, four narrow questions decide whether a Montana contest is even available: whether the person filing is an interested person under MCA 72-1-103(25), whether the MCA 72-3-122 window is still open, whether the facts line up with a ground MCA 72-3-310 names, and whether the will carries an MCA 72-2-537 penalty clause. A licensed Montana attorney answers all four against the actual documents.

Related Guides

• Montana Will Requirements
• Montana Probate Guide
• Montana Intestate Succession
• Montana Executor Duties
• Montana Probate Timeline
• Montana Surviving Spouse Rights

Sources:

• Title: MCA 72-3-302, Formal testacy proceedings -- nature -- how and when commenced. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0020/0720-0030-0030-0020.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-303, Formal proceeding supersedes all informal applications. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0030/0720-0030-0030-0030.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-304, Effect of formal proceeding on power of informally appointed personal representative. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0040/0720-0030-0030-0040.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-301, Petition for formal testacy or appointment -- contents -- last will. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0010/0720-0030-0030-0010.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-305, Notice of hearing on petition for formal testacy proceeding. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0050/0720-0030-0030-0050.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-308, Written objections to probate. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0080/0720-0030-0030-0080.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-310, Burdens in contested cases. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0100/0720-0030-0030-0100.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-311, Priority of determinations in contested cases. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0110/0720-0030-0030-0110.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-313, Order for formal probate. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0130/0720-0030-0030-0130.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-317, Effect of formal testacy order -- modification or vacation -- fact of death -- remedies of alleged decedent. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0170/0720-0030-0030-0170.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-318, Modification or vacation for other cause. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0180/0720-0030-0030-0180.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-321, Formal testacy proceedings -- contested cases. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0030/section_0210/0720-0030-0030-0210.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-122, Time limit on probate, testacy, and appointment proceedings -- exceptions. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0010/section_0220/0720-0030-0010-0220.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-106, Interested person's right to demand notice of order or filing. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0010/section_0060/0720-0030-0010-0060.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-112, Venue for estate proceedings. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0010/section_0120/0720-0030-0010-0120.html
• Title: MCA 72-3-402, Petition and order (supervised administration). Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0040/section_0020/0720-0030-0040-0020.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-103, General definitions. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0010/section_0030/0720-0010-0010-0030.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-202, Subject matter jurisdiction. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0020/0720-0010-0020-0020.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-207, Rules of civil procedure to apply. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0070/0720-0010-0020-0070.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-208, Jury trial. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0080/0720-0010-0020-0080.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-209, Appeals. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0090/0720-0010-0020-0090.html
• Title: MCA 72-1-301, Notice -- method and time of giving. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0010/part_0030/section_0010/0720-0010-0030-0010.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-521, Who may make a will. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0210/0720-0020-0050-0210.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-522, Execution -- witnessed wills -- holographic wills. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0220/0720-0020-0050-0220.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-523, Writings intended as wills. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0230/0720-0020-0050-0230.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-524, Self-proved will. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0240/0720-0020-0050-0240.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-525, Who may witness. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0250/0720-0020-0050-0250.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-527, Revocation by writing or act. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0270/0720-0020-0050-0270.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-537, Penalty clause for contest. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0050/section_0370/0720-0020-0050-0370.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-813, Effect of financial exploitation or homicide on intestate succession, wills, trusts, joint assets, life insurance, and beneficiary designations. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0080/section_0130/0720-0020-0080-0130.html
• Title: MCA 72-2-814, Revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers by divorce -- no revocation by other changes of circumstances. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0020/part_0080/section_0140/0720-0020-0080-0140.html
• Title: MCA 28-2-407, What constitutes undue influence. Publisher: Montana State Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-27. URL: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0280/chapter_0020/part_0040/section_0070/0280-0020-0040-0070.html

This page describes Montana's will contest procedure as the statutes state it. It is not legal advice.